Oral History

Dissertation, October 21, 2014Anna Hájková

Outline

• Why oral history?• Ethics• The interview• How to use your material?• How to write with oral testimony?

Berthold Brecht, Questions From a Worker Who Reads

Who built Thebes of the seven gates?In the books you will find the name of kings. Did the kings haul up the lumps of rock? And

Babylon, many times demolished.Who raised it up so many times? In what housesOf gold-glittering Lima did the builders live?

Where, the evening that the Wall of China was finishedDid the masons go? Great RomeIs full of triumphal arches. Who erected

them? Over whomDid the Caesars triumph? Had Byzantium, much praised in song,Only palaces for its inhabitants? Even in

fabled AtlantisThe night the ocean engulfed itThe drowning still bawled for their slaves.

The young Alexander conquered India.Was he alone?Caesar beat the Gauls.Did he not have even a cook with him?Philip of Spain

wept when his armadaWent down. Was he the only one to weep?Frederick the Second won the Seven Years' War. WhoElse won it?

Every page a victory.Who cooked the feast for the victors?Every ten years a great man.

Who paid the bill?So many reports.So many questions.

Transl. by Michael Hamburger

The struggle for the acceptance of OH

• A legitimate source? • “barefoot historians” (Hans-Ulrich Wehler)• “history from below,” social and gender

history, and history workshops• Legitimization: conferences, journals,

successful books, establishment of new line of inquiry

• Oral History Review: http://ohr.oxfordjournals.org/

Ethics• When undergraduate research involves an element of oral history, use of

questionnaires, or other research involving live participants, the supervisor must ensure that the student completes an ethical review form before conducting the research.

• In cases involving the NHS or acute ethical issues, the supervisor and Director of Undergraduate Studies will consult with the Arts and Social Sciences Research Ethics Committee and may need to seek approval from this Committee or from the NHS.

• In all other cases (the overwhelming majority), we accept that the normal process of supervision is sufficient to serve the purposes of ethical review. In these cases, there is no need for completion of any form.

• In the very small minority of cases where a form does need to be completed, it must be signed by the student, the supervisor (who will assist in completion of the form), and the Director of Undergraduate Studies.

• FORMS FROM SUPERVISOR!

The interview

• Production, conservation & reproduction of any historical source shapes how we understand that source– Interview & archives no different

• Power– Relationship between interviewer & interviewee

• Practical matters: making contact, signing forms, preparatory meeting, time, place, technology, minutes, transcription, authorization…

• Over-preparation: go!

After the interview & varia• Critical reading: Against romantization: necessary critical

reading and contrasting other sources• Impact of books, films, narratives of others, social and

cultural memory• Danger of multiple interviews: cementing• Oral history as a paper archive: other people’s OH• Narratives a valid line of inquiry of their own: history of

mentalities, subjectivity, genre, history of emotions• What belongs to the canon? watch out for missing voices,

people outside of the normative community (sex workers, “asocials,” mentally ill, those who married outside…)

• Social context shapes narratives (eg Sinti and Roma in the Holocaust)

Erna Frischmann, 1945• “The thing I feared came, quite early on. On September 1,

1942 my parents received summons for the transport. This may have been the blackest day of my life. I remember it like today, ot was Saturday morning, dad turned up in my office, all pale, and said. ‘we are in it.’ In a bit my mum came, with the same news. I cannot describe what followed. I was trying to find a reason to petition my parents from the transport, but it did not work out, there were then so few Czech Jews in Terezín and I did not have a genuine reason for reclamation. I knew the only wish of my parents was that I volunteer to go with them. On the other hand, all my friends were telling me to stay. […] I know that many people judged me for going without deliberation. So on the September 1, 1942 on the express wish of my parents I left Terezín.”

Erna Frischer-Meissner, 1980s, BL, 28_30

• http://sounds.bl.uk/Oral-history/Jewish-Holocaust-survivors/021M-C0410X0055XX-0200V0

Oral History Network

• http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/cross_fac/ias/current/networks/oralhistory

• 50 Years Warwick Anniversary• Discussion Forum: 'Oral History: the Basics' with Dr

Angela Davis and Grace Huxford. Wednesday 3rd December 2014, 2-4pm, H0.56.